Monday, January 9, 2012

Raw Vegan Bean Dip - Version 1.0

While this dip is super tasty, I'm calling it Version 1.0 because I believe there's room for it to be even more tasty. Dare I say, amazingly tasty?

The NFL playoffs have kicked off, which means Superbowl Sunday is right around the corner. I'm not claiming to be a huge fan of football, but I grew up in a family of sport loving boys (now all men) so the Superbowl has a bit of a Holiday feeling to me. If I have a team to root for, and a reason to make a big yummy spread of food then game on!

I'm always drooling over the bean dips that seem to show up at various sports and non-sports related gatherings, but since I have a difficult time digesting cooked beans I don't make a habit of eating them very often.

This is where the lovely Green Bean comes into play.
Can a Green Bean Dip be just as tasty as a regular ol' Bean dip? Oh yes it can!

AtV Bean Dip (version 1.0)

Makes roughly 2 cups

Step 1.

Beforehand Prep

Soak 1 cup Cashews in Water for 4 to 6 Hours

Remove the Cashews from the soaking liquid

Your Cashews will expand after they've been soaked - you will only need 1 cup of soaked Cashews for this recipe so measure your cashews after you've soaked them to make sure you have the right amount (you'll probably have a little bit more than you need)

Step 2.

Making your Bean Dip

Puree 1 cup soaked Cashews into a paste:

Leave your cashew paste in your Food Processor and add the following:

2 c chopped Green Beans

2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

3 Tbsp Oil (your choice - I used Grape seed)

2 Tbsp Onion Powder

1/2 to 1 tsp minced Garlic

1/4 tsp ground Cumin

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Salt to Taste

Puree everything together for 3 minutes

After 3 minutes have passed ---

Slowly Stream in:

1/4 cup of Water

Puree for another 3 minutes:

All done!

Let your Bean Dip chill in the fridge for an hour and it will set/thicken up a bit.

Serve it warm or cold, with Chips, Crackers, Veggies, or like I did in the photos...

On a thick slice of Yellow Crook neck Squash with Sprouts and Green Onion

Ooh and it sounds super easy too! I unfortunately used up all my cashews yesterday but I'm wondering what would happen if I threw green beans in there too...I saw a great green bean salsa recipe recently that I also want to try!

you say cooked beans don't like you; have you tried sprouted beans? I thought sprouting would be difficult and fussy, but it aint. So find a glass jar with lid (large spaghetti sauce jar is perfect), 3/4 fill with cold water, add 1/2-1 c beans (mung beans work great). Leave 8 hrs, drain into sieve. Rinse with fresh cold water, place sieve in bowl, cover with paper towel. Once or twice a day, run more water over beans and re cover with towel. 2-4 days and Voila! Now, how to get the little sprouty roots out of your sieve! Hmmm... Keeps in fridge 4-6 days covered.

My main goal with this recipe was making it simple and easy to make without calling for too many beforehand prep steps - like sprouting mung beans. But you could definitely use them in place of green beans in this recipe if you'd like!Thanks again for informative comment!